Unable to delete recovery services vault

Question

Unable to delete recovery services vault

Gerry O 50

Unable to delete recovery services vault. Error message states there is a VM in soft delete. Followed all instructions on the support sites to identify the items but there are no items in soft delete so I am unable to undelete, or even find the offending VM.

Soft delete has been disabled, re-enabled, and then disabled.

No items exist in backup items in any state.

VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-22T21:49:01.4366667+00:00
Hello Gerry,

Could you please help us with more information with screenshot?

There are a few possible reasons why you might be unable to delete a Recovery Services vault even though there are no items in soft delete:

There may be orphaned backup items in the vault. These are backup items that are no longer associated with a protected server or backup management server. To identify orphaned backup items, you can use the PowerShell cmdlet Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem -VaultName <vault name> -Status Orphaned.

There may be backup policies associated with the vault. To delete a vault, you must first delete all backup policies associated with it. To list backup policies, you can use the PowerShell cmdlet Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupPolicy -VaultName <vault name>.

There may be Site Recovery replication configurations associated with the vault. To delete a vault, you must first disable Site Recovery replication for all protected items in the vault. To disable Site Recovery replication, you can use the Azure portal or PowerShell.

If you have checked for all of the above and you are still unable to delete the vault, you can try contacting Azure support for assistance.

In the meantime, you can try the following workaround:

Enable soft delete for the vault.

Wait for the soft delete period to expire (14 days).

Try deleting the vault again.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-22T23:20:38.68+00:00

Your PowerShell command example is not correct due to the -VaultName and the - Status parameters.

Documentation reference, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.recoveryservices/get-azrecoveryservicesbackupitem?view=azps-10.4.1
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-22T23:23:37.5966667+00:00
VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-23T06:52:09.3633333+00:00

This is quite strange issue,

i am not sure if you have already gone through this KB article -

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-security-feature-cloud

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-delete-vault?tabs=portal

Use Install-Module -Name Az.RecoveryServices -Force to get the latest version.

if still facing issue then i would suggest create ticket with Microsoft team so they can understand issue over screensharing session.
VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-23T07:31:15.4633333+00:00
@SadiqhAhmed-MSFT please suggest, this looks weird issue.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-10-23T08:51:05.43+00:00

@Gerry O Sorry for the painful experience. Could you please send us an email at AzCommunity @ Microsoft dot com with subject: Attn: Sadiqh Ahmed with your subscription ID and a link to this forum thread for context.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-23T12:45:35.05+00:00

I was using the cloud shell for the command so I hope that environment is up to date.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-23T12:48:36.2866667+00:00

Thanks, just sent the email with the details.

Accepted answer

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VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-22T21:49:01.4366667+00:00

Hello Gerry,

Could you please help us with more information with screenshot?

There are a few possible reasons why you might be unable to delete a Recovery Services vault even though there are no items in soft delete:

There may be orphaned backup items in the vault. These are backup items that are no longer associated with a protected server or backup management server. To identify orphaned backup items, you can use the PowerShell cmdlet Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem -VaultName <vault name> -Status Orphaned.

There may be backup policies associated with the vault. To delete a vault, you must first delete all backup policies associated with it. To list backup policies, you can use the PowerShell cmdlet Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupPolicy -VaultName <vault name>.

There may be Site Recovery replication configurations associated with the vault. To delete a vault, you must first disable Site Recovery replication for all protected items in the vault. To disable Site Recovery replication, you can use the Azure portal or PowerShell.

If you have checked for all of the above and you are still unable to delete the vault, you can try contacting Azure support for assistance.

In the meantime, you can try the following workaround:

Enable soft delete for the vault.

Wait for the soft delete period to expire (14 days).

Try deleting the vault again.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-22T23:20:38.68+00:00

Your PowerShell command example is not correct due to the -VaultName and the - Status parameters.

Documentation reference, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.recoveryservices/get-azrecoveryservicesbackupitem?view=azps-10.4.1
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-22T23:23:37.5966667+00:00
VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-23T06:52:09.3633333+00:00

This is quite strange issue,

i am not sure if you have already gone through this KB article -

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-security-feature-cloud

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-delete-vault?tabs=portal

Use Install-Module -Name Az.RecoveryServices -Force to get the latest version.

if still facing issue then i would suggest create ticket with Microsoft team so they can understand issue over screensharing session.
VasimTamboli 5,215 Reputation points

2023-10-23T07:31:15.4633333+00:00

@SadiqhAhmed-MSFT please suggest, this looks weird issue.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-10-23T08:51:05.43+00:00

@Gerry O Sorry for the painful experience. Could you please send us an email at AzCommunity @ Microsoft dot com with subject: Attn: Sadiqh Ahmed with your subscription ID and a link to this forum thread for context.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-23T12:45:35.05+00:00

I was using the cloud shell for the command so I hope that environment is up to date.
Gerry O 50 Reputation points

2023-10-23T12:48:36.2866667+00:00

Thanks, just sent the email with the details.

Answer 1

Hello @Gerry O Thank you for reaching out to us through Microsoft Q&A platform and I really appreciate your patience in this matter!

<<Sharing the solution with broader community>>

Issue: Unable to delete recovery services vault. Error message states there is a VM in soft delete.

Solution: The backup VM, that was supposed to be in soft delete, has been finally deleted.

Observation: It was noticed that the VM was in soft deleted state for longer than 14 days and was not being displayed in the vault.

IMO, this could be one off issue where the backend system did not delete the VM in soft deleted state for more than 14 days.

@Gerry O Confirmed that he was able to delete the recovery services vault successfully this time.

Thanks once again!

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Unable to delete recovery services vault

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